07/08/14 07/08/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! israel has witnessed a huge barrage of rockets being shot and launched from the gaza strip by for mass. we are currently taking necessary precautions to be prepared for an escalation. we are forces on the ground. >> violence in israel and the occupied territories is escalating as israel bombed the of fullip and friends

scale assault. if israel invades gaza, it would be the third major assault on the coastal territory in six years. we will get the latest from gaza. and we go to tampa, florida to speak with the aunt of the palestinian teenager who was beaten by israeli forces in east jerusalem. >> brutally attacked from the sites. and iame and attacked me went unconscious and woke up in the hospital. >> his teenage cousin was burned alive last week in east jerusalem. we will speak with electronic intifada and an israeli peace activist whose father was an israeli general. then, the koch cartel. the reach, reactionary agenda, and the record. that is the title of lisa graves latest piece at the progressive magazine. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

violence in israel in the occupied territories is escalating as israel bombs dozens of targets in the gaza strip and threatens a new full-scale assault. gaza-based journalist reports four people were killed earlier today in an israeli airstrike on a microbus. on monday, the israeli military mobilized 1500 additional troops along the gaza border and announced operation protective edge, which it says aims to stop palestinian rocket fire into southern israel. tensions have erupted in the region following the murders of three israeli teenagers as well as a palestinian teenager. we will have won the situation am including report from journalist mohammed omar in gaza after headlines. afghanistan is facing a crisis over its disputed presidential election. limoneira results monday showed former world bank official beating opponent by about one million votes.

the results will not be finalized until later this month. ability to supporters have protested calling results but to in claiming widespread fraud. in washington, d.c., a spokesperson called for a full review. >> there are serious allegations of fraud which i think you referenced there and they been raised and in our view they have not been sufficiently investigated. right now, our focus is on encouraging a full and thorough review of all reasonable allegations of irregularities. we think that is essential to ensuring the afghan people have confidence in the integrity of the electoral process. >> in afghanistan, we 16 people including four soldiers and 10 afghan civilians were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the eastern province. than 60 girlsre and women have reportedly escaped on the islamist group boko haram after they were kidnapped two weeks ago in the northeastern state of bordeaux. more than 200 schoolgirls

grievously kidnapped by boko haram still remain missing. personn, at least one has died and half a million have been urged to evacuate admits a powerful typhoon. the typhoon brought wind gusts of more than 150 miles per hour and cut off power to tens of thousands of households in okinawa. in mexico and guatemala, at least three people are dead after a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake will stop it was centered in southern mexico is sparked landslides and building collapses, killing at least two people. the baby was killed in the hard-hit watermelon state of denmark is when a piece of a hospital ceiling collapsed on him. in the united states, immigrant advocates gathered at the white house to criticize the obama administration's treatment of immigrant children fleeing violence and poverty in central america. more than 52,000 unaccompanied

children from guatemala compel some door, and honduras have been seized at the was border since october. protesters say many of the children are trying to rejoin their families. >> we're going to take action. we want these kids to reunite with their parents because that is what they came here for. it is not their fault. some of them don't even know what is happening. they don't know what they're doing. they're just told to go with so-and-so and get here. like, that is what happened to me. they were, you go with these backe and, we will see you here. >> the obama administration is poised to ask congress for $2 billion to pay for more detention centers and immigration judges to handle the influx. the white house said monday most of the children are unlikely to qualify for humanitarian relief and would be deported.

according to the un's high commissioner for refugees, 58% of unaccompanied children detained by the united states could be entitled to refugee protections under international law. in a victory for young immigrants in arizona, a federal appeals court has ordered the state to stop denying traverse licenses to young people who came to the united states as children and are eligible to remain here. a panel of the ninth circuit court of appeals ruled unanimously arizona had violated the constitution by denying the licenses to immigrants who qualified for the obama administration's deferred action program. unnamed u.s. officials have confirmed the cia was involved in is spying operation that led to the arrest of a german intelligence official accused of being a double agent. german politician say the agent has admitted to providing a u.s. contact with details about a german parliamentary probe into u.s. spying efforts revealed by nsa whistleblower edward snowden. reuters sites to unnamed

officials to confirm the cia's role. white house press secretary josh earnest refused to comment on the case. >> the reason i can't comment on this particular matter is it involves a pending german law enforcement investigation. i would not want to get ahead of that or interfere in that investigation. in addition, it obviously goes to purportedly direct intelligence matter as it relates to the united states, and that is not something i frequently comment from the podium here. >> president obama has signed legislation offering more than 560 many dollars in spending on u.s. intelligence efforts over the next five years. the figure does not include rest by programs that are kept secret. the law expands whistleblower protections for employees to report concerns to authorize channels but does not extend protections to intelligence agency contractors like edward snowden who said there were no adequate channels for him to raise concerns about nsa spying.

hasgulf nation of bahrain ordered a u.s. diplomat to leave after he met with the shiite opposition group. it is a key u.s. ally that hosts the navy's fifth fleet. the sunni monarchy there has staged a riddle crack down against pro-democracy protest. -- a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protests. he had planned to meet with both bahraini officials and human activist, but bahrain objected. the state department spokesperson said the u.s. is deeply concerned by bahrain's decision to expel him. in north carolina, organizers say more than 1000 people rallied in the latest moral monday action to denounce a voter id law they say is the harshest since the jim crow era. it came as lawyers asked a federal court to block the law

which requires voters to show curbs early voting, and the limited same-day voter registration. the north carolina naacp says the law as part of a long history of voter suppression aimed at people at color who disproportionately lack photo id. in california, local prosecutors say they will not bring criminal charges against the sheriff's deputy who shot and killed an eighth grader after mistaking his pellet gun for an assault rifle. 13-year-oldhot the andy lopez seven times last year in santa rosa. the killing sparked mass protests, but the district attorney concluded the officer believed he was in imminent danger. in a statement, an attorney representing the family in a civil suit said the decision "leaves the family feeling as though andy have been killed again today. no reasonable officer in such circumstances could believe he was encountering anything but a teenager with a toy gun on a sunny afternoon in a residential area." the fbi is still reviewing the

shooting. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. welcome to our listeners and viewers around the country and around the world. violence in israel as escalating. israel bombs the gaza strip and threatens a new full-scale assault. on monday, the israeli military announced operation protective edge which it says aims to stop intotinian rocket fire southern israel. at least nine palestinians were winded and over 50 targets in gaza overnight. six hamas members were killed on sunday. the deadliest by israel since the eight-day assault in late 2012. palestinian militants have fired dozens of rockets into southern israel since the weekend and causing more casualties. israel has called up over 1500 troops to fortify contingent are ready massed on the gaza border. israeli military spokesperson peter lerner said israel is the

parent for escalation. >> we have witnessed a huge barrage of rockets being launched from the gaza strip by hamas. we are currently taking the necessary precautions to be prepared for escalation. we're forces on the ground. we have fortified in order to protect and safeguard civilians of israel. today, we have about one million israelis that are under potential of fire. the bombings "exceed all red lines" and vowed to respond with broader rocket fire. if israel invades gaza, it would the the third major assault on the coastal territory in six years. 1400irst in 2008 left over dead, most of them civilians. >> the threat comes amidst heavy unrest in the west bank and air town inside israel will stop

halloween the killings of a palestinian teenager and three israeli teenagers. the israeli teens were abducted while the checking of the west bank settlement where they live. their bodies were found last week after more than two weeks of israeli raids that saw over 200 palestinians arrested in over a dozen killed. israeleport says conducted over 2400 raids on palestinian homes and businesses , seizing over 2.9 million dollars worth of cash and property. in an apparent act of revenge right after the teams are these were found, the palestinian teenager named mohammed abu was abducted. his dead body was found shortly after. the palestinian authority attorney general said the initial autopsy found burns on 90% of his body, suggesting he was burned alive. >> results of the autopsy showed two things. the main cause of death is

burning. there were fumes inside the airwaves. this shows for sure he was burned while alive. >> on monday, israel said it had arrested six suspects and three have already confessed. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called mohammed's father to express "shock over the despicable murder" and pledged the suspects prosecution to the full extent of the law. netanyahu another top leaders have condemned the killing, mohammed's death followed calls for vengeance from israeli political leaders as well as in marches and on social media. netanyahu posted a tweet saying -- for more we go to gaza for the latest where we're joined on the phone by mohammed omar, award-winning palestinian journalist who has been covering the israeli airstrikes in gaza. democracy now!to what do you see right now?

>> [indiscernible] ago, the half an hour israeli f-16s bombed one of the micro buses that was driving nearby in the center of gaza city. about four people were killed, bringing the number of people to about seven who were killed and about 55 injured. rocket fire from the gaza strip continues. hamas and others continue firing rockets the past few days. i believe this is going to escalate even further. we also received news that the israeli military bombed the house.

there are about 13 people who killedured and two are just four minutes ago. there was a military buildup around the border of the gaza strip and i would expect the situation to get even much worse. this followed the worst outbreak of violence along the gaza frontier since the eight-day war in 2012. startedeli occupation andground invasion launching fires on the gaza strip. willieve the situation eviscerate further. one of the targets on the microbus is one of the leaders of hamas military wing. in this case, the islamic movement of hamas is likely to

retaliate all the coming afternoon and tomorrow. >> what is the mood amongst the residents you have to? are people preparing for ground invasion from israel? >> as first preparations, and the previous wars, people were going to the shops to stock food because then there is a war. and we don't see people rushing to the markets to buy food. there is a reason for that. the banks are shut, so the tellers did not come through. , 50,000rnment of hamas staff members, have not received their salaries and that was a big, big issue for them. for the past few months, they have not been paid. therefore, they cannot go and .hop the same they are still struggling to get payment. as i said, the banks are shut.

who aree a few people trying to prepare themselves for what is coming will stop the streets are nearly empty on the roads. i expect there will be more cars driving in the gaza strip since one of the targets was the acrobus, was was driving on road. let's talk about the humanitarian crisis. the ministry of health just announced 70% of the ambulances are not going to be running anymore. case here is not because there's no feeling up, because there's no cash to buy fuel for the ministry of health. the minister of health is to receive funding, which they have not received in the last two months, or to be precise, since .he agreement

into theis not coming gaza strip, therefore, it will make it very difficult for the lances to is -- ambu run. all gaza hospitals just announced the state of emergency. we're hearing right now f-16s firing rockets on the different sides of the gaza strip. the ruins are what is remaining of the gaza international airport has been targeted four times in the last few hours and two times in the very early morning. buildings and agricultural lands have been targeted. the ministry of agriculture aboutted the damages at

$2.5 million. there's the shortages of electricity which always happens during the israeli attacks. this is one of the worst attacks. it is similar to the one in november 2012. the only thing that is different from this is that now the military leadership in hamas losing control. there is no way to control them as the hamas political leadership are hiding. basically. ,hich means the authorities even if egypt is trying to intervene for a truce, it will take some time before they start to have real talks with those who are firing the rockets in the gaza strip. >> mohammed omer, thank you for being with us, award-winning

palestinian journalist covering the israeli airstrikes on gaza from gaza. when we come back, we will be joined by the son of an israeli general, peace activist and writer. and we will be joined by the aunt of tariq abu khdeir who was beaten by israeli soldiers to unconsciousness. his cousin, mohammed, who he had been with just before mohammed was kidnapped, he ultimately was burned to death in east jerusalem. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. his father was an israeli general. he is the author of "the general son." father was an israeli general who ultimately became a peace activist, saying that

israel should give back the territories that he helped capture in 1967. nico is with us in jerusalem. any talk about the israeli soldiers that are massing along the israeli border or the gaza border? >> hi. i have to say, hearing, and omer and his description from gaza, he is asked about 45 minutes away from me. lightre with plenty of whit and water, and his reality that he is describing that is about to become worse, is a direct result of the criminal siege israel has been imposing on gaza for years now. putting 1.6 mean people in a -- 1.6nd inexcusable

million people in a cruel and inexcusable siege. israel has been bombing and killing people in gaza since it created the gaza strip and the early 1950's. going on for six decades. it is getting worse. the casualty count is getting worse. this is part of a larger problem will stop the problem is that people equate the palestinian response to the israeli violence and to israeli aggression as terrorism instead of realizing this is an act of resistance. the palestinians have been the subject of oppression and violence by israel from the very beginning that the state of israel has established. this is why we have the gaza strip and hundreds of thousands of refugees in the gaza strip and other places. these people were forced out of their homes as a result of an act of terrorism, which created

the state of israel in 1948. these people have been resisting and resisting and other places, mostly by nonviolent means. of course, with the armed struggle, it gets a lot more media. they have been part of her brutal oppression for six decades. what we see today is the result of one straw that literally broke the camels back and we see uprising in places we haven't seen before like inside palestinian communities and inside israel. in andplanning to go kill more palestinians knowing full well they will be burning more palestinian children just like the one burned by these four or five individuals who were not soldiers. new.is nothing i think it is important to look at this not as an isolated issue or incident, but part of a larger issue that has to be israelis andhat

palestinians can finally move forward. >> miko peled, you were arrested recently at a protest in the west bank, protesting the occupation or one of a group of israelis who regularly takes part in the solidarity actions. has the brutal killing of mohammed abu khedir done anything to raise discussion about the settlements, about the fact his occupation is continuing and palestinians are subjected to this type of brutality every day? soi think it only has done isthat the foreign press suddenly interested again. in terms of the discussion on the palestinian side, this is nothing new. this particular brutal case of murder is really nothing new. what you think happens when israel dropped tons of bombs from the air in gaza? children get burned. this is one of the absurd issues

people talk about, knowing full well there can be no change. israel will never stop building cities and towns wherever it israelverywhere in what considers the land of israel. and so this whole debate of settlements and no settlements, again, has to be taking larger issue. israel has been building settlements on occupied palestinian land since 1948, since the state of israel was established. it is time to wake up and talk about it like this. this whole debate about occupied palestinian territories only been part of the country in the settlement problem only being part of the country is absurd. havetinian towns settlements all around them and all of the settlements are not considered settlements because they're within what is considered proper israel, but these are all built on palestinian land. the towns are shrinking and getting smaller, resources declining. the landmasses disappearing.

you have a larger issue. i protest and others protest. where i was arrested last time, quite brutally i have to say, it has become the mecca of the nonviolent resistance and people from all over the world come and visit there. yet the israeli army shows up, shoot amounts of tear gas that are obscene. they shoot shot grenades at point-blank, pointing them at people, then i stood there and i was talking or at least trying to talk to one of the commanders and at one point, he got angry and push me around, then receded to detain and arrest me. is nothing. i get to go home at the end of the day. we have thousands of palestinian prisoners in israeli jails, the vast majority have never been charged with acts of violence, which represents the palestinian resistance. these are the people that have to be released. if israel doesn't like the

rockets coming out of gaza, they know what to do. this is a response to the israeli occupation and brutal oppression of palestinians promised seven decades. it is important for this in perspective and not treat it like it is an isolated issue. is 45 minutes away from me and he has no access to clean drinking water, families don't know what to do when the bombs fall, they can't escape. israel has locked them in this massive prison. i don't know what kind of expectation there is that they don't respond with any kind of violence. being as ineffective, at least there is some expression of anger and some desire to be noticed. >> we're also joined in los angeles by the cofounder of the electronic intifada and author. can you talk about the situation at this point? the soldiers amassed along the

border of gaza right now in the bombing going on in gaza, israel setting up this operation -- they call a protective edge, saying they're responding to rocket fire coming from gaza? >> good morning, amy. i'm very happy to hear the context and analysis of both miko because and this has been totally missing from the mainstream media and even progressive media for so long. i think it is so important, the response of the israeli claim which we heard in the news at the beginning of the show from the israeli spokesperson that israel is just responding and this talking point is repeated at nausea him by israel in the media. look at the numbers from the u.n. office for the coordination of humanitarian on protection of civilians.

the reason this is happening now in addition to everything we have heard is the number of palestinians killed by israel since the start of this year is about triple the number in the same period as 2013. it is grim talk about human statistics,rms of but just up to the end of june, so not even including the horrifying slaughter that we just heard about from mohammed that has occurred in the past few days, until the end of june, israel has killed 31 palestinians since the beginning of the year, compared with 11 and the same time last year. so three times as many palestinians killed. 1463 injured. why don't we ever hear about that? we only hear about the rockets coming, which miko talked about. this is happening, amy, at a

time when there is unprecedented -- i would even say genocidal incitement against palestinians. for example, the statement from the up-and-coming political star in israel of the jewish home party him a which is in netanyahu possibly coalition who actually issued a call for genocide of the palestinian people on june 30. she declared the entire palestinian people is the enemy. and she justified the destruction, including "it's elderly and its women, its cities in its villages, its property and its infrastructure" and she said that israel would be justified to slaughter palestinian mothers because they give birth to little snakes. "i wish i could say that that was an extreme are outline expression opinion in israel,

but she got something like 5000 likes for that statement on facebook. we're hearing this kind of incitement from the foreign --ister, from every virtually every cap minister, and the chief insider benjamin netanyahu who is now pretending to be against violence, pretending to console the family of mohammed abu khedir, the latest lynching victim in this occupation. what i want to get your response to netanyahu is bigger than we can, he vowed to punish those responsible for mohammed abu khedir's death. >> i know in our society, society of israel, there is no place for such [indiscernible] that is the difference between us and our neighbors. they consider murderers to be heroes. they name public squares after

them. we don't. we condemn them and put them on trial. >> that is benjamin netanyahu vowed to punish the killers of mohammed abu khedir. but in doing so, also it drawing some sort of moral high ground. your response? >> where does one begin with that? this is the leader of the government that has killed more than 1400 palestinian children, including seven this year. israel sanctifies these murderers and treats them as heroes and insights them. -- incites them. there is no case and practically living memory of an israeli being brought to justice for the killing of any of these 1400

children. on may 15, two palestinian children were shot dead by snipers and it was caught on camera. everyone saw it. it is on the is two months later, has anyone been arrested? do we know the names of the killers? i will tell you, israel knows the names of the killers, but they're not telling because they have placed a gag order, censorship order on that case. the only reason netanyahu was forced to make a cynical statement is because of the media attention that the case of mohammed abu khedir, who was lynched to death, who was burned alive, got and his cousin tariq abu khdeir, a u.s. citizen, brutally tortured on television. a question for netanyahu i wish somebody would ask, mohammed abu khedir -- i understand we will hear from his aunt -- was

tortured on camera. we saw it. he was tortured. under was fine and put house arrest, a 15-year-old boy, never having been charged with anything and having been tortured -- have those who beat him up been arrested? as israel it even announced they were suspended from their positions? of course, it hasn't. does israel demolished the homes of israeli soldiers or settlers who attacked palestinians? and the figures from the u.n., by the way, show attacks on their properties have been going through the roof in recent years. this is all unchecked violence. netanyahu incites. it starts from the top. it is not just against palestinians, but against africans, against what they call leftists -- anyone who criticizes their government. streetsts through the

is "death to the arabs, death to the incitement comes from netanyahu. >> ali abunimah, thank you for joining us. miko peled is still with us. his father was an israeli general, military governor of the gaza strip a member of parliament. miko peled is the author of "the general's son." before we go to tariq abu khdeir 's aunt in tampa, florida -- born in baltimore, grew up in florida, the young men being by israeli soldiers in east jerusalem -- i want to ask you, miko peled, that your own family's journey. your father, a famous israeli general and considered israeli war hero and ended up saying that israel should withdraw from

the territories back to the 1967 line. why the change? think the change came as a result -- again, i tried to reported in the book "the when israel" first occupied gaza and then when he saw that by occupying the entire country and israel will in fact become a binational state and will have to enforce our brutal military force in a brutal military occupation upon the people who are inevitable or would inevitably resist because be a foreigno occupation. so he felt the right thing to do -- and he said us immediately after the 1967 war was over in the very first meeting of the israeli high command, we now have an opportunity to solve the palestinian problem easily by

negotiating with the palestinians based on what we know today is called a two state solution. as he was saying these very words, this is a very last day, the last moment of the 1967-68 war, the israeli military was already forcing hundreds of thousands of palestinians out of the west bank, destroying cities and towns and villages in the west bank, and building massively for israeli jews only in the west bank, which is exactly what they did prior to the 1967 and the rest of palestine which have become israel. he retired from the military year later and dedicated the remainder of his life, the second half of his life i should say, to this idea of an israeli-palestinian peace. the problem was, nobody on the israeli side was interested. in terms of is really thinking and the zionist ideology, which is the foundation of the state of israel, there cannot be any

compromise in the land of israel because it belongs to the jewish people. the law says over 95% of the are in israel is only jews permitted to purchase land on over 95% of the land here. so palestinians, who are the indigenous people, are prohibited from purchasing land here if they like. so this is a reality he was trying to combat, but on the other side, there was nobody listening in terms of is really thinking, zionist thinking, the land is ours, the palestinians are either going to have to live with israeli domination or they can leave. in essence what has happened is, israel has given palestinians two choices. either completely surrender or resist. this has been going on from his seven decades. now we see the results of that. the very thing he said in that -- on that last day of the war in 1967, every single thing he said came to be. israel is a brutal occupying

power, not a jewish state. it is a binational state. in an apartheid regime were one nation has all the rights and the other nation is living under a terrible oppressive regime. it is exactly what he was hoping to avoid. >> miko peled is joining us from jerusalem, and israeli peace activist who was just arrested in the west bank. his father is the famous israeli war hero and general who ultimately called for the very land he had been responsible for capturing, among other israeli military, saying israel should withdraw. we're also joined by tariq abu khdeir's aunt in tampa. howq is a 15-year-old simeon american cousin of the murdered palestinian teenager mohammed abu khedir, who was killed in an apparent retaliation for the murder of

three israeli teenagers. video emerged over the weekend of tariq being severely beaten by israeli officers after being detained during protests over his cousin's murder. tariq said he was watching demonstrations when he was seized. the video shows him lying on the ground as the israeli officers repeatedly beat him with batons. he was left with facial bruises, severely swollen eyes. let's turn to tariq abu khdeir in his own words. side.as attacked from the i heard somebody screaming. they came and attacked me and i went unconscious. >> why did they attack you? >> i don't know. that is why i ran. >> [indiscernible] jumped the fence and tried to run away because i saw someone running at me. i tried to run away. >> tariq abu khdeir, the young

man you just heard, if your listing on the radio, he has two black eyes. he has been charged with assaulting a police officer and has been released into house arrest in east teresa long. he actually lives in florida, but is in east jerusalem for the summer visiting his family. he was with his cousin mohammed just moments before mohammed was kidnapped and murdered last week. in a statement from the state department said it was profoundly troubled by the assault, calling for an incredible investigation and full accountability for the apparent excessive use of force. joining us now from tampa, florida, from pbs studios, is suhad abu khdeir. as well is as aunt relative of mohammed abu khedir. welcome to democracy now! thank you for joining us. our condolences. and you talk about what you now understand is happening with

tariq and what happened to mohammed? >> thank you for having me. , like understand now is you're saying, he is on house arrest and has to pay a fine, which i think is very ridiculous. after what he has endured, we should be the ones compensated at this time. , we are stillmmed in mourning. the whole city is in mourning because it is such a close-knit abuly, he even the non- khedirs have grown up with them for several generations. >> i want to get your response to a spokesperson for the israeli police. he said tariq was one of six palestinians arrested, three carrying knives, after clashing which 15 israeli officers were injured. he said tariq was part of this rally where hundreds of rioters,

many masked, world type bombs, molotov cocktails, fireworks and stones. what is your understanding of what tariq was doing at the protest? >> first of all, when you're inside your house and your 15 years old and you hear commotion downstairs, it is kind of hard to stay inside. you go down and look and wonder what is going on here. from a distance, he could see the protesting, but he was nowhere near it. if there were that many protesters around them, where were they when he was getting beat up? wouldn't someone have intervened? and to have all these weapons that they're claiming for somebody that really what have intervened. as far as everybody's claims that the six that were with them had all these weapons, all of the weapons that could have had in the world don't even justify with nobodyattack around him.

you can see in the video nobody is within the vicinity of tariq. this is absolutely unjustifiable. you have three uniformed men that are in full combat gear, weighing at least 200 to 250 pounds against a 15-year-old -- thet looks like we lost satellite feed, the aunt of tariq abu khdeir, describing what happened him at the hands of is really soldiers. the mother of one of the israeli teenagers killed in the west bank last month has spoken out against the murder of mohammed abu khedir. this is rachel frankel. >> even in the depths of morning over our son, it is hard for me to describe how upset we were over the outrage that happening jerusalem. the shedding of innocent blood is against a rally, against the basis of our life in this country. the murderers of our children,

whoeverlps them -- helped them, will all be brought to justice. but it will be them and no innocent people. it will be done by the government, the police, the justice department and not the vigilantes. no mother or father should go through what we're going through and we share the pain of the parents of mohammed abu khedir. the legacy of the life and that is a legacy of love and humanity, of national unity. , theat was rachel fraenkel mother of one of the israeli teens who was murdered in the west bank last month. we are joined in jerusalem still by miko peled. the mother here emerging as the voice of peace. your comments on that?

>> yeah, i don't think she is emerging as the voice of peace at all. i think if she wanted to be recognized as a voice of peace, completelyondemn -- condemn all the israeli violence for the palestinians. and since these three boys missing, the military has gone completely mad. the israeli soldiers have been marching through towns and like roman legions, destroying everything in their path, destroying homes, beating children, arresting, torturing countless have been killed of innocent civilians. this has been complete madness. if these parents were really interested in calming things down, they would telnet yahoo! -- netanyahu to pull back his troops, to relieve the people of gaza this brutal and an inexcusable acts.

if anybody is really interested in calming things down, this is where they need to point the finger. this is who they need to be talking to. just yesterday i happened to be at the grave of one of the boys killed on the 15th of may. to listen to his father speak at the gravesite of a 17-year-old boy, all he asks for is justice. all he asks for is justice. and to compare that to the madness going on in the streets or in israel and the madness the israeli military has been subjecting the palestinians, is just unlivable. >> miko peled, thank you for being with us, israeli peace activist, writer, his father was the israeli general. miko peled is author of "the general's son." when we come back, we will be joined by lisa graves of the

progressive magazine on the koch brothers. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. we turn now to the koch cartel. scathing new look at the koch plus families world and the ultraconservative john birch society. on charles koch's roots with the john birch society. >> for more we go to washington, d.c. am a joined by its author lisa graves for president of the progressive inc. welcome back to democracy now! can you lay out what these new revelations are that you have found out? >> yes, thank you so much for

having us on. we been doing research in archives across the country. what we have discovered is not just that fred koch, charles and david koch's father was a member of the john birch society and helped found it, but charles koch himself followed his father's footsteps into the john birch society, which was a very extreme organization that spent the 1960's largely opposing the civil rights movement here in the united states. these documents, some of them we are revealing today, talk about rn charles koch's own words for the funding of the john birch society, trying to support its mission. what we have documented is what that means in context and the civil rights movement, how that organization was trying to stop the civil rights movement, trying to discredit it, opposing progress on integration of our

society. >> lisa graves, why is it so significant? billionaires,ers have a lot of power in this country, but do you see that john birch legacy still continues today in the political activities they find? >> we do. even though charles koch stopped advertising in the john birch society publications and promoting its radio shows and fundraising for it in 1968, what we think has happened based on other research is he is really advancing those ideas he has learned to use other language than calling people communists, for example, in his op-ed in "the wall street journal" earlier this year, using the term "collectivist." in many ways, what he has done is put a more sophisticated gloss on the john birch society through the organizations that he and his brother have helped fund and fuel, and in fact, really proliferate across this country to push these ideas into

the mainstream. these ideas that anything other than free market fundamentalism is somehow communist or collectivism. >> lisa graves, your report features many photos about the kochs and the john birch society that you gathered from public archives including one that shows a double billboard they ran in birmingham, alabama in the aftermath of attacks on protesters. >> one of the shocking documents we discovered is the john birch society, the bookstore that charles koch was hanging out in wichita and hoping to promote, was putting out these pamphlets attacking not just the civil rights movement, but attacking even key photos and moments of the civil-rights. in the john birch society, the founder helped promote the idea that the infamous attack on civil rights activist in birmingham, where activists were bitten by dogs and host by firehoses, that the dog by photo

was a set up, a sham. so after the outcry in the nation over the brutality bible connor in birmingham, alabama and civil rights activist protesters from the john birch society started pushing a movement to support your local police. in addition to calling for the impeachment of the supreme court justice in addition to attacking martin the 13th as a communist, in addition to suggesting rosa parks was a communist, they also promoted in the immediate onermath of those attacks protesters, a movement to support your local police. those are the types of materials that were promoted in the 1960's , attacking the civil rights movement, in fact, asking what is wrong with civil rights? claiming it was fine without federal intervention. >> your piece details the little-known political operation the kochs ran called triad. can you talk about that? >> after leaving the john birch

society and funding a number of other organizations, charles and david koch appear to been involved in an operation called the triad. he was investigated by congress back before smartphones and google. , but a little obscure revealing because the triad operation in kansas was designed to use shell entities to run ads to influence the 1996 were federal races in this country. it was investigated by congress. one of the republicans shut down the investigation and later it turned out heart of the operation was largely financed by the koch family fortune. if you fast-forward to just 2012, what you see is that operation on steroids, basically, through the koch operatives who are running what is known as freedom partners -- another of these entities that basically operates a bunch of

shell organizations or fuels shelled groups with pop up, basically, to transfer big cash. what we did not discover until almost a year after the 2012 elections was the coke brothers and their billionaire brothers administrator nearly $250 billion of money through group called freedom partners that no one outside those operatives knew even existed. >> let's talk more about freedom partners, the koch-backed political organization. reported in january on how it is designed to shield donors to this labyrinth of 17 tax-exempt groups and limited liability companies. in 2012, raising the least $407 million for voter mobilization and tv ads attacking president obama and congressional democrats. the koch industries spokesperson told "the washington post," this type of activity is undertaken by individual donors and organizations on all ends of the political spectrum.

lisa graves, your response? >> this is one of the big issues of our time. the biggest issue whether the sort of dark many can be injected into our elections, designed to deliberately influence the results of our elections, and the american people are kept in the dark about who is really funding up. avalon set of campaign-finance rules designed to make those sorts of direct effort to help candidates come and to promote them public so people would know who is influencing their election officials. what the koch brothers and their legal team is done is try to steer that information -- obscure that information, high whilenformation, wh putting in millions of dollars. this is an operation to hide from the the american people the

influence of these credible superrich people who are trying to distort our policies and dramatically change our democracy for the worst. >> can you talk about the website you're releasing today? >> we have created a clearinghouse called koch exposed.org. it is about the family fortune, groups like this, a service we're are offering to the public to make sure they can learn more about the koch brothers and these groups that change their names or pop up here and there. they can help trace the dark money that is being pushed into our elections as was ported earlier this year, there has been an effort to increase 2014stication in the senate races and governors races across the country. >> lisa graves, we have to leave it there. president of the progressive inc.

that does it for our broadcast. we have two job openings. for more information, go to democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [caption